Posts Tagged With: plans

Yes, I quoted House of Pain. Stick with me long enough and you’ll learn I’m a connoisseur of fine musical nostalgia. I can’t believe our trip is already halfway done. My plans were to post all along the way. Luckily, we’ve been so busy I haven’t had time. I know a lot of people take vacations to relax. We’re not those people. There’s so many places to see, on and off the beaten path. We try to cram as many sites in during a trip as we can. In an effort to keep you from snoozing through our trip, I’ll try to keep it short and sweet and retro-post a day at a time.

FRIDAY 7/13: Pack it up!

I can pack. That is one thing I do well. I’m pretty sure I could pack enough supplies for a month into three Walmart bags. I’m learning to pare down what I take, with the exception of shoes. I always have to bring those “just-in-case” shoes. You know, the just-in-case we go somewhere “nice” for dinner, the just-in-case my feet get hot, and of course, the just-in-case I decide to go mountain climbing. I figure every decent road trip deserves at least four changes of shoes.

His philosophy on underwear mirrors my philosophy on shoes. But, for modesty’s sake we won’t even go into his “just-in-cases”.

Let the Planning Commence

Do you ever hear this little tiny voice in your head that starts out at a whisper? “hey…vacation is coming up.” You try to ignore it. After a bit, it’s a little louder, “Umm, Jennifer. You might want to start thinking about vacation.” Yeah, yeah. Finally, you wake up one day and “HEY MORON, YOU’RE LEAVING FOR VACATION IN 10 DAYS AND YOU STILL DON’T KNOW WHERE YOU’RE GOING!!!” That’s where I’m at now.

We are ALL ABOUT some traveling. We are also ALL ABOUT waiting until THE LAST MINUTE to work out the fine details. Not the fine details like “Where should we eat breakfast?” or “What time is check-in?”. But, fine details as in “What part of the country should we visit?”.
Yes, we are all about spontaneity here at the Kirkland compound. Some people plan vacations a year in advance. Around here, King Kirkland likes to wait until all of his co-workers plan their vacations. In my mind, he’s stalking the calendar at work, waiting to move in for the kill. The reward? Leftovers. Our vacation dates are chosen for us. No worrying about what weeks have the best hotel rates, when is the best time to visit this landmark or that park, or even how much extra cash we need to save up. Yes, folks, good ol’ spontaneity. What we’re left with is about three weeks to plan a family vacation that The Boys will remember. Did I say three weeks? I suppose THE Yard Sale and cakes have consumed the other week and a half.

It’s like cramming for a test. We’ve narrowed “The Vacation” down to three choices:

South Dakota

Niagara Falls

New Orleans

Now, in a matter of days I must research each one and weigh the pros and cons. No big deal since I already have my pick in mind. The hard part will be convincing the King that my idea is the best, as always.

A cake due in two days, a yard sale seven years in the making and yet-to-be-decided vacation in two weeks~~What better time to create a blog!
As has become my routine for the last several weeks, I’ll head home from work this evening and grab the fondant and buttercream and create a masterpiece that anyone would be proud to eat.
I’m no Buddy CakeBoss (yes, that’s his real last name) or Duff AceOfCakes, but
I do love to sling some buttercream. I’m working on my fourth cake for the month of June. “Fourth? That’s nothing!”, you say. “Fourth! What the hell was I thinking?”, I say. Four cakes on top of one full-time job, one part-time job and a not-yet-financially rewarding “career” as ScareFest Administrator. So yes, things at the Kirkland compound are a little chaotic right now.
Since the four hours of sleep at night seems to be overkill, let’s plan THE yard sale! It’s been seven years since my last one. That means seven years worth of “junk” or “another man’s treasure” to sell. Vacation is coming up and we could all use a little more cash for the road. The next three days are forecasted to be the hottest yet in 2012. Ingenious! I’ll have THE yard sale then! Another one of those “what the hell was I thinking” moments. So, the junk another man’s treasure has been sorted, priced and prepared. Location is set. Fluorescent poster board & magic marker signs have been created. No doubt, the youngest of The Boys could have written neater than I did on them. Newspaper ad has been printed. This should be fun… I’ll keep you posted.
In the midst of all this, we’ve got two weeks to plan our family vacation. But, I’ll save that for another day.